Murder she wrote

By
David Butler

Feb. 21, 2014, 9 a.m.

IN the small English village of Chipping Cleghorn, a murder is announced and everyone's a suspect. It starts off innocently enough, but soon there is blood. The villagers, including one Miss Marple, are overcome with curiosity when an advertisement..

Murder she wrote

Everyone's a suspect in the new Miss Marple mystery, 'A Murder is Announced.'

IN the small English village of Chipping Cleghorn, a murder is announced and
everyone's a suspect.

It starts off innocently enough, but soon there is
blood. The villagers, including one Miss Marple, are overcome with curiosity
when an advertisement in the local gazette states: 'A murder is announced and
will take place on Friday 13th October, at Little Paddocks at 6.30pm.'

Intrigued, they gather at the appointed time, and they don't have long to
wait. Then the lights go out, a gun is fired and a body falls. And then the
crime must be solved.

It's a classic Agatha Christie whodunit, and Queanbeyan
theatre fans will have their chance to catch it played out on stage with an
all-star cast when 'A Murder is Announced' opens at the Canberra Theatre
tomorrow night.

The large cast is led by Judi Farr (Kingswood Country, A
Place Called Home) as the septuagenarian sleuth, Miss Marple, and also features
television stars James Beck (City Homicide, A Midsummer Night's Dream,
Neighbours), Robert J. Edwards (Underbelly, The Mousetrap), Jamie Kristian
(Underbelly: Razor, The Bill, The Crucible), Mark Lee (Gallipoli, Seachange,
Packed to the Rafters) Elizabeth Nabben (Winners and Losers) and Sonia Todd
(Shine, Police Rescue, McLeods Daughters, All Saints).

And playing the exotic
and well-to-do Mrs Swettenham is Australian television, film and stage actress
Carmen Duncan. As a long-time Agatha Christie fan, she told The Queanbeyan Age
she was having a blast settling back into the 1950s, small-town world of Miss
Marple.

"It's been marvellous for me, because I haven't been on the stage for
a very long time, so it's been fantastic," Ms Duncan said. "I'd forgotten how
rewarding it is to have a character that you can continually work at and improve
over a period of time."

The production has already played to theatre-goers in
Melbourne and Brisbane, and has been rewarded with positive reviews and strong
ticket sales. Ms Duncan credited the show's early success to the enduring appeal
and charm of Agatha Christie's mysteries.

"Agatha Christie was one of the
great thriller writers. I remember reading her in my early teens, and I think
anybody who's a reader has read Agatha Christie at some point.

"And I think
people are a bit sick of going to the theatre and being bombarded with bad
language and violence and sex.

"I think it's really comforting to just go to
the theatre, settle in your seat, have a good laugh and just be intrigued and
try and work out a mystery.

"And of course everybody's a suspect, and that
makes it fun as well," she said.

n Catch A Murder is Announced at The
Canberra Theatre from Saturday, February 22 to Friday, February 28.To book
tickets, phone the box office on 6275 2700 or visit